Trial for deputy charged in federal probe of Los Angeles County jails

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Trial is set to begin today for a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy charged in connection with a wide-ranging federal probe of alleged abuses inside county jails.

Deputy James Sexton, 29, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and obstruction-of-justice charges. He is the first of 20 current and former sheriff’s deputies charged in February with corruption and civil rights offenses to face a jury trial.

The case against Sexton -- and six other defendants who will face trial on similar charges at a later date -- centers around the treatment of jail inmate Anthony Brown, who was working as an informant for the FBI in connection with the federal probe, court papers show.

On Aug. 25, 2011, a federal judge ordered Brown to appear before a grand jury as part of the investigation, according to the indictment.

After learning of the federal probe, Sexton and others “knowingly conspired to corruptly influence, obstruct and impede, and endeavor to influence, obstruct and impede, the due administration of justice,” the indictment alleges.

The indictment contends that after Brown’s cover was blown, sheriff’s officials moved him around the jail to keep him hidden from federal authorities, re-booked him using different names and even altered jail records to make it appear that he had been released.

The defendants also grilled Brown “to attempt to determine the manner and extent of the federal investigation,” according to the indictment.

At the time, federal investigators were trying to determine if jail guards were accepting bribes for cellphones and committing other misdeeds.

Brown is expected to testify for the prosecution.

As part of his defense, Sexton plans to tell jurors that he was following orders and did not intend to obstruct justice, according to the government’s trial memo.